Decembee 



1910] 



SCIENCE 



i95 



567 deaths, 20,389 marriages and 1,365 divorces 

 have been recorded. 



A PARTY of about fifty railroad men visited 

 the college of engineering of the University of 

 Illinois on Wednesday, November 9. The 

 party was composed of executive and engineer- 

 ing officers of the railroads having head- 

 quarters in Chicago. The visit was made 

 upon the invitation of Dean W. F. M. Goss. 

 Its object was the inspection of the buildings 

 and equipment of the college of engineering, 

 and a discussion of the possibility of a closer 

 educational alliance between the railroad serv- 

 ice and the university. After a trip of inspec- 

 tion over the plant of the college of engineer- 

 ing, an informal conference was held between 

 the railroad officials and the heads of depart- 

 ments of the college. Resolutions were passed 

 by the visiting party expressing their appre- 

 ciation of the need of the college for ampler 

 facilities and more complete equipment, espe- 

 cially along the lines of railway and transpor- 

 tation engineering. 



Under the provisions of the Indian Museum 

 act of 1910, the ethnological and art collec- 

 tions have been separated from those of eco- 

 nomic products, and in his last report of the 

 museum as originally constituted, the curator, 

 Mr. I. H. Burkill, has, says Nature, given a 

 useful account of its past history and present 

 condition. The museum was first started by 

 the Asiatic Society in 1814, the first donor 

 being the Countess of Loudoun. The collec- 

 tions have passed through many vicissitudes, 

 due to the absence of suitable accommodation. 

 Under the present scheme of reorganization 

 they have at last been placed upon a satisfac- 

 tory footing. The ethnological gallery now 

 contains about 11,000 exhibits, but it still 

 lacks a proper descriptive catalogue, which 

 can be prepared only by a competent ethnolo- 

 gist. The progress of the art series has been 

 stimulated by the patronage of Lord Curzon, 

 who provided an annual state grant of about 

 £400 for the purchase of specimens. Most of 

 the older economical exhibits have perished, 

 but these are being gradually replaced. These 

 collections are now being arranged in suitable 

 galleries. 



VSIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



At the November meeting of the Yale Cor- 

 poration at the university, announcement was 

 made of an anonymous gift of $15,000, the in- 

 terest of which is to be used as an emergency 

 loan fund in the interest of instructors and 

 assistant professors of the university. An- 

 nouncement was also made of the receipt of 

 $30,000 of a fund of $50,000 left to the uni- 

 versity by the late J. Burnett Collins, of Fort 

 Worth, Texas; of the receipt of $20,000 from 

 Newton Barney, of Farmington, Conn., 

 toward the fund for the professorship of edu- 

 cation, and the receipt of a like amount from 

 the family of the late John H. Whittemore, of 

 Naugatuck as a memorial gift. 



The University of Vermont has just re- 

 ceived $25,000 by the will of Lewis L. Coburn, 

 a graduate of the class of 1859. 



A ■^TVARiUM for botany and zoology is being 

 constructed at Dartmouth College. It will be 

 a glass and concrete structure, forty-three feet 

 long. Part of the building will be devoted to 

 the experimental work of a new course in 

 physiological botany. The interior fixtures 

 will consist of double rows of concrete tables 

 for the plants, and floor tanks with running 

 water for plants and animals. The building 

 will probably be ready for use by the first of 

 next semester. 



The dean of Northwestern University Med- 

 ical School announces that hereafter the in- 

 stitution will require two years of collegiate 

 work for admission instead of one year as 

 heretofore. 



Dr. J. S. Thomson has been appointed 

 demonstrator in zoology at the University of 

 Manchester in succession to Dr. W. D. Hen- 

 derson, appointed lecturer in zoology in the 

 University of Bristol. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 

 / 



ROMANTIC NOMENCLATURE 



The difference between the name quintus 

 and the numeral 5 as a partial designation for 

 a species excites my friend. Professor Cock- 

 erell, to considerable exaggeration.' Indeed, 



' SciEXCE for September 30, p. 428. 



